skc0227

I have had this tank a couple of months and purchased 3 fish....a yellow female African cichlid, a plecos, and a black fish with red fins (not shark). The yellow fish has been hiding, had large belly and now appears that she is holding something in her mouth (looks like it's moving) and she won't eat. Is it possible she would just now have these babies after almost 2 months with no males. I did have a fish who died after the 1st month that was in the tank with them. He may have been a cichlid but not sure. He was black with light blue spots. He was not acting sick but laying in the bottom of the tank one day when I came home. Could he have been the dad? I want to protect babies if we have them. Please help if you will.

skc0227

Never mind. I have read and also contacted the store where I purchased my fish. It is for sure.....she has a mouth full of babies. Her mouth is wobbling from side to side and she is not eating. I went and picked up a net divider and have her isolated. I don't have big rocks in my tank, just the small rocks for the bottom. I do have a few plants both planted and non-planted. Should I try adding a couple of big rocks at this time? I hope we didn't traumatize her too much today adding the screen. It was a rather big ordeal plus we had to change the filter. I got the tank to entertain our new kitty and we are spending hours just watching the fish ourselves.

Angela_96

Sometimes the first batch doesn't make it. However getting them used to being moved to a brooding tank to spit might be a good idea. Count 21 days from the spawning date and when they are down to about 10 days move them. I would just put some substrate down and a couple caves for both moms to have their own cave. Then when they spit make sure you feed them good and put them back in the reg tank. They will eat the fry if they can get to them, so I would make sre a couple rocks were directly on the substrate where the little buggers can hide well. There will be a few days you will have to move the rocks to count the fry. They will get used to the sounds/tank in a while and come up for feedings eventually.